Why LinkedIn for video?

While LinkedIn has been slower to adopt video than other platforms, top brands from across the globe have seen major success from video marketing on LinkedIn. Company Page videos are 5x more likely to start a conversation among members and LinkedIn members spend almost 3x more time watching video ads rather than static Sponsored Content.

Following the success of many other platforms, LinkedIn has just launched Stories in Australia. And we’re sure it won’t take long before this expands worldwide, and they allow advertising in this format too. 

CPC on LinkedIn is higher than Facebook, and can run as high as $8 or more, depending on what industry you’re in. But that shouldn’t put you off advertising on this platform. The ability to precisely target relevant decision-makers, makes LinkedIn a very lucrative advertising option.

Who should use LinkedIn video marketing?

LinkedIn marketing won’t be suitable for every company. It’s a professional networking platform and members primarily use it to:

• Look for jobs
• Recruit new hires or freelancers
• Connect with colleagues and provide recommendations
• Share and discuss news in their industry
• Connect with industry influencers

In other words, this advertising on this platform is literally made for B2B companies.

If you decide to go ahead with LinkedIn marketing, your strategy should differ greatly from other social media sites. People here are interested in services and products that will benefit their business or advance their careers. Focusing on logical appeals and selling the features and benefits of your product is going to be the best way to draw in your audience.

Best practices for LinkedIn video marketing

So you’ve decided to embark on a LinkedIn video marketing campaign. Before you grab the camera and start shooting, we’ve got some handy tips and tricks to make your video so engaging, your audience won’t want to scroll past!

LinkedIn Video Ad Formats

With video advertising relatively new to the platform, LinkedIn currently only offers two ad formats. But we’re sure we’ll see more in the future.

LinkedIn currently offers video Sponsored Content and Direct Sponsored Content. Both options appear natively in the user’s feed with a ‘sponsored’ tag and appear as a stand-alone post. They allow call to action buttons or lead generation forms to easily capture leads from your ad. Now let’s learn how they differ.

LinkedIn Video Ads

Sponsored Content

Boost video content with sponsored content

Sponsored Content is a post that’s first uploaded on a company’s LinkedIn page, then promoted in an ad campaign. It works similarly to ‘boosted’ content on Facebook.

Targeting Options

LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities are totally unique to the platform. It allows you to target people based on:

• Company – name, size, followers and industry
• Demographics – age, gender
• Education – fields of study, schools, degrees
• Job experience – job function, seniority, title, skills, years of experience
• Interests

Also has a ‘matched audience’ feature, which gives you the option to target three unique audiences based on previous interactions with your brand. These include:

Account targeting

This feature allows you to upload a CSV list of company names you would like to target. This is particularly useful if you’re going after some brands who have never heard of you or your product before. LinkedIn has found that account targeting leads to a 32% increase in post-click conversion rates.

Website retargeting

Allows you to target people who have already visited your website. This is perfect for nurturing leads and persuading them to convert into paying customers. Retargeting has been very successful for many brands, resulting in a 30% increase in click-through-rate.

Contact targeting

This feature allows you to upload a CSV list of email addresses of users you’re already connected to, similar to a list you would use for email marketing. Contact targeting is a great option if you’re launching a new product or service, as those who are familiar to your brand will be more receptive to what you have to say. LinkedIn has reported that contact targeting has lead to a 37% increase in click-through-rates.

How to create matched audiences

So if you want to improve your ROI on LinkedIn, matched audiences are a great place to start. And it’s not that hard to set up!

You can create matched audiences when you create your next ad in LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager.

After you name your campaign and select your campaign objective, you’ll be able to build your target audience.

Click on ‘matched audiences’, then upload your CSV list or click to retarget website visitors.

The website audiences feature allows you to create automated, triggered campaigns based on site activity. You will need to install LinkedIn’s conversion tracking pixel on your website for this feature to work.

Uploading lists makes it easier to target audiences you’ve already segmented like long-term clients or those who have purchased certain products.

If you’re creating website audiences, make sure you choose the right target criteria so you can show relevant ads to users who are looking at certain products or services.

This will require more individual campaign creation, but it will make your campaigns so much more effective.

If you decide to use customer lists instead, LinkedIn provides templates you can use to target accounts or emails. Fill these out and upload them to Campaign Manager:

Again, audience segmentation is key here so you can create more relevant offers.

Targeting tips

Ultra-precise targeting can get a little confusing, but we’ve got some tips to help you reach the right audience.

Target decision-markers

Your ad will be so much more effective if it finds the right person from the get-go. Targeting by job title makes it easier than ever to target the decision-makers. Go for the most senior positions possible.

For example, if you want to sell social media software to a business, you don’t want to target the receptionist or the intern. Instead, you should try to get in touch with the CMO or social media manager.

Should you include or exclude company followers?

When you set your targeting criteria, you’ll see the option to include or exclude people that already follow your company. You need to consider what your goals are when you make this decision.

If you’re running a video marketing campaign designed to build brand awareness, you don’t need to show this to existing followers. You will end up paying for views or clicks that don’t actually provide any value to you.

However, if you’re releasing a new product, including your existing followers could lead to more sales, as ‘warm’ leads always convert more often than cold.

Bidding options

LinkedIn advertising works on an auction bidding system, where you compete against other advertisers targeting the same audience. You can set your bids as high as you want, but you won’t have to pay this full amount, just $0.01 more than the second-highest bidder. If you bid too low, your ads will not get delivered.

LinkedIn allows you to bid in two different ways, maximum cost bid and automated bid. If your goal is to get the most results for your budget, automated bid will be your best bet. But if your goal is to have the most control over your cost per result, maximum cost bid may work better.

Maximum cost bid

With maximum cost bid, you can set the bid yourself and LinkedIn will not charge higher than the bid you set. This option gives you the most control over your cost per result.

Depending on your objectives, you can set the bid based on the cost-per-click (CPC), cost per 1,00 impressions (CMP) or cost per view (CPV).

For website conversions and lead generation campaigns, LinkedIn will adjust your maximum cost bid dynamically to those more likely to convert.

Automated bid

With automated bid setting, LinkedIn’s system uses historical campaign data and member information to automatically set the right bid.

This option is great for getting more results for your budget, but your cost per impression may be higher than if you chose the maximum bid option.

Automated bid charges by impression or every time your ad is served.

How to analyse video performance on LinkedIn

When you log into Campaign Manager, you’ll see loads of metrics for your video marketing campaign. The main things you should look at are:

LinkedIn video marketing in 2025

We’re data nerds. We want to see first-hand what video marketing works best. So, we’re running a little experiment on LinkedIn, using Sponsored and Direct Sponsored video to see what format generates the most results.

We’ll also be running this experiment on all the major social platforms from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to Tik Tok and even Tinder!

So don’t just take our word for it – stay tuned for the results of our experiment.

Check out some of our favourite LinkedIn video ads!

Need some creative inspo before you embark on your first LinkedIn video marketing campaign? We’ve gathered some of our favourite campaigns to help you get motivated and think outside the box.

WeWork

Workspace company, WeWork, demonstrates that the simplest campaigns can be the most effective:

Watch the ad here

The simple, punchy text and powerful visuals makes this video ad instantly eye-catching and appealing. Running for only 12 seconds, this short and sweet video definitely keeps us engaged and inspired!

Adecco

Recruitment agency, Adecco takes a unique approach to sell their services, without pushing too hard:

Watch the ad here

This humorous ad shows just how frustrating the recruitment process can be. Complete with the catchphrase “right talent right place”, the audience knows that if they decide to go with Adecco, they’ll find the right person for the job without the hassle.

Facebook

While it might be weird to see social network giant, Facebook advertising on LinkedIn, it’s the perfect platform to show how they can help small businesses grow:

Watch the ad here

Facebook cleverly jam-packed their ad with testimonials, but it doesn’t feel like a typical testimonial. It’s fun, entertaining and inspiring. The clear messaging immediately helps the audience recognise the value of their platform.

Get started with LinkedIn video marketing today!

By now you should realise that if you’re a B2B company, you can’t afford not to advertise on LinkedIn! Video can help you engage and connect with target audiences in a more authentic and meaningful way. And once you’ve got a company page, setting up your video ad campaign is as easy as can be!

Prefer to leave it to the pros? We’d be happy to help! Our video marketing specialists can help you reach the people that really matter to your business and create engaging videos that encourage them to convert.

So, if you want to get cracking with LinkedIn video marketing get in touch with Redback today!